The next day, Maris headed towards the Grand Temple. A few days later, she reached the Grand Temple and saw many priests, including Great Priests, Grand Priests, and two Archpriests, who were welcoming her.
After the initial welcome and ceremony, she needed to receive education at the temple. Although she had already learned everything she needed from Lucan, she still required official education and certification from the Grand Temple.
After her time at the temple, she would start studies at the academy next month. Besides education, there were some ceremonies and duties she needed to fulfill.
During the month Maris stayed at the Grand Temple, many other priests, particularly those from noble families, harbored ulterior motives.
One priest wanted to seduce Maris, thinking that as a commoner, she might be naive and see herself as inferior.
Another priest sought to exploit Maris by leveraging the temple's authority.
Maris's teachers, who were nobles, also wanted to punish her by using their authority as teachers.
Then there was a priest conducting dark magic research who intended to use dark magic to turn Maris into a mindless doll under his control, aiming to gain the highest authority.
In the Grand Temple, schemes and machinations swirled, with many intending to exploit the saintess for their own selfish gains.
However, upon meeting the saintess Maris in person, they were immediately silenced.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Maris Rainsa. I look forward to working with you."
"...!?"
When these schemers and those with ill intentions saw Maris—a woman whose beauty left them all stunned—they forgot everything and could only admire the saint.
Her white dress, with a white halo behind her head, her pink hair flowing down to her hips, and her pure smile made everyone forget their impure thoughts.
Suddenly, they all began to feel guilty and started blaming themselves for having such wicked thoughts about the saint.
She was indeed a saintess. Regardless of her commoner origins, she was an existence clearly set apart from them.
Maris was assigned to a Grand Priest. The Grand Priest's role was to guide Maris, teaching her what it means to be a saint and how a saint should behave, as well as her duties.
This Grand Priest, upon seeing Maris, was initially full of lustful thoughts. He looked at her with lustful eyes.
"If I..." He gulped his saliva as he thought, but when Maris looked at him with a pure and kind smile, his heart began to beat faster, and suddenly he started feeling immense guilt, as if he had become an irredeemably evil person deserving eternal damnation in the depths of hell.
"Ugh...!" Feeling unworthy of guiding the saint, he resigned and went on a journey to cleanse his heart.
"If you can't solve this small problem, then brace yourself for punishment. And the punishment isn't light."
An elderly sister chosen as Maris's teacher spoke firmly.
"Yes... I've solved it."
"You've already solved it!?"
Maris was already brilliant in her studies, and she had received all the education she needed from Lucan.
After this, she completed all her studies in two days. Like her academic performance, she had mastered etiquette and was unrivaled in holy arts. There was nothing the teachers at the temple could teach her.
Every attempt to find fault and punish her was thwarted by the holy spirits surrounding Maris.
Moreover, the teachers felt guilt every time they thought anything bad about Maris, and soon they couldn't bear the guilt and confessed their sins to her. Maris, like a kind saint, forgave them.
The teachers at the temple felt great respect and admiration for Maris, and they decided to help her whenever she needed it.
The priest who wanted to seduce Maris, hoping to make her fall hopelessly in love with him, was too shy to even look at her. He did his work while thinking about her but lacked the courage to show himself in front of her.
The person who wanted to use the temple's authority to manipulate Maris discovered that Saint Maris's authority at the temple was equal to that of an Archpriest, the highest rank in the Grand Temple.
Then, there was the priest researching dark magic.
"Kukuku... I never expected a commoner saintess to be such a beautiful girl! In that case, I might as well use medicine to make her a tool and..."
"Meow."
The next day, the priest was found seriously injured at his house, and others discovered his dark magic research and evidence of its use.
The priest was hanged to death according to the law of the Grand Temple. All priests were forbidden to learn dark magic, and anyone who did so would be given the death penalty.
Originally, Maris was expected to suffer abuse and neglect at the Grand Temple, but she learned everything from Lucan and awakened her saintly power earlier than expected. There was no one left to oppress her.
"Life has become much more pleasant since the saintess arrived."
"All the evil priests have quit, and it's peaceful now."
"As expected of Saint Maris! Long live Saint Maris!"
Most of those who tried to use or oppose Maris either left the Grand Temple or, affected by Maris's halo, became good, and the young priests and sisters became devoted to her, increasing her influence in the capital's Grand Temple.
Maris aligned with the Grand Temple and steadily increased her influence.